Attract 3. Attract international talent

Attracting international talent is not the same as filling the skill shortage listed by Immigration NZ (the jobs that remain vacant because we do not have skilled New Zealanders to fill those jobs).

Attract serial entrepreneurs, those that repeatedly start or invest in new businesses. Their experience, coupled with their success rate, make them an important part of any ecosystem.

Attract the experts, those that enable the serial entrepreneurs to implement their ideas. Their technical expertise or knowledge about global marketing are critical talents that will enhance the ecosystem.

Look for the benchmarking of international qualifications against New Zealand qualifications, so you know what talents you are being offered.

Consider ways to strengthen economic and social development of member countries in the Asia-Pacific region, along the lines of the old Colombo Plan.

Raf Manji speaks about attracting international talent during the launch of the TalentNZ Menu of Initiatives on 11 June 2014.

2014 New Zealand Examples

New Zealand offers post-study work visas, allowing foreign students who have completed their studies to remain in the country to search for work. Smoothing this process will help to retain the most talented foreign graduates within the country.

To fill work shortages in the IT industry, Grow Wellington are working with local company XERO and IT recruiter 920 to attract people from the UK. They have attended expos run by Down Under Live, an organisation that promotes New Zealand and Australia in the UK, and also have made contact with UK recruitment agencies that specialise in overseas recruitment. To make the transition easier XERO are also providing relocation packages for their company’s new employees from overseas.

Immigration NZ’s website NewZealandNow.govt.nz provides a user-friendly platform for people to learn about the process of relocating to New Zealand for work. It features a user friendly interface with key headings ‘Live in NZ’, ‘Work in NZ’, ‘Study in NZ’ ‘Invest in NZ’ and ‘Visas’, so that people can easily locate the information they need.

Workhere New Zealand profiles companies and jobs in order to recruit international talent. Workhere not only lists available jobs but also uses video, photography and stories to give insight in to the company’s culture and goals. They are partnered with other national organisations and government agencies such as Immigration New Zeeland, Kea (New Zealand’s Global Network) and CareersNZ to make the transition to living in New Zealand easier and smoother for potential applicants.

Immigrants to New Zealand in professions such as nursing have experienced difficulty in working within their fields due to a lack of recognition of qualifications earned overseas. Lack of consistency in the way such qualifications are recognised decreases the attractiveness of New Zealand as a destination for skilled migrants.

Immigration NZ offer a wide range of over 20 work visas, from temporary employer supported visas, to long term resident’s visas and entrepreneur visas. In most cases a person wishing to move to New Zealand for work will need to hold qualifications matching the long-term or short term skills shortage lists. These lists are available online and cover a huge range of professions and trades.

HainesAttract is an advertising agency that specialises in helping employers and New Zealand attract the right talent for businesses to grow and compete. They offer communications solutions such as local and international media strategy planning, e-recruitment and market research to help companies ‘win the war for talent’ in today’s international labour market.

2014 International Examples

The Migration Policy Institute reports that recent liberalisation of Australia’s entrance requirements for foreign-trained doctors resulted in a dramatic increase in immigration of medical professionals. Conversely, the UK experienced a sharp drop in inflow of trained doctors when it ended the automatic recognition of medical qualifications from Commonwealth countries.